European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 9, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                David Letterman Johnny Carson Jay Len politics amp comics allies in funny business did you hear the one about Dan Quayle uan he needed a Bunch of jokes to Tell at last years Gridiron club dinner a Black tie event of cheap political yuks. So his staff phoned a research Center and asked for All of their Dan qts Avle jokes. And that a no joke. The research Center is the Center for Media and Public affairs keeper of perhaps the largest pile of jokes in the nation. The Center collected 2,400 in 1989 alone dutifully logging them onto a computer disk after transcribing monologues from a the tonight show Quot and a late night with David  its an unlikely chore in Washington a town of humourless bureaucracy yet where else but Washington would someone collect jokes for the Sake of Public affairs research so when the vice president needed jokes the Center was the natural place to ask. A we had contributed so much to spreading those jokes i figured the least we could do for him was to let him know what was out  Center co director Robert Lichter said Quot afterwards he sent us a Nice note saying he liked some of  most of the centers work is More sober. Its Stock in Trade is analysing the Way the news Media cover big news events. That usually translates into lots of numbers bar graphs and pie charts All very serious and often very Boring. A even a . Can figure out that its More fun monitoring Leno Carson and Letterman than rather Brokaw and Jennings a a says Lichter who through his work has developed a Knack for speaking in sound bites. A we be gotten an enormous response. I almost hate to say it but its one of the Odd places where our work has made a difference a what sort of difference Well since the Center started including joke reports and tallies in its monthly newsletter Media Monitor in 1988, Lichter has seen the same jokes reappearing in newspapers and news magazines especially in stories about Quayle. Indeed flipping through the centers print Page 6 c sunday be